


Frostbite

by KarenHardy (RowanAD)



Series: Hardy Three Mysteries [4]
Category: Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon
Genre: Angst, Hypothermia, Kidnapping, Waterboarding, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23365795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowanAD/pseuds/KarenHardy
Summary: When the kids try to tackle a case a bit too high above their paygrade, Joe learns a thing or two about staying alive, in more ways than one.
Relationships: Frank Hardy & Joe Hardy, Joe Hardy & Original Female Character(s)
Series: Hardy Three Mysteries [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1482239
Kudos: 10





	Frostbite

They knew when they took this case it was above their pay grade. They were teenagers, really tagging along on their father’s case, not running point themselves. Bodies was not something the Hardys typically worked with. But people dying of hypothermia, covered in frostbite, in the middle of  _ summer _ , was just too intriguing to stay away.

Of course, as was typical of their luck, they got caught. Karen was somewhere else while Joe sat in a rather uncomfortable metal folding chair, but then, he doubted they cared much for his comfort. Where these suckers had gotten handcuffs was the question he wanted answered as he tried to move his hands. Each wrist was tightly cuffed to one side of the chair, and the more he struggled the more his wrists burned. He couldn’t see anything in the dark, and he did not like his odds.

“Well well well. I never considered the Chief would sick  _ children _ on us.” 

Joe remained quiet. He was often prone to snarky remarks, but knowing these men were cold blooded killers made him hesitant to speak. If he could bide his time long enough for rescue, maybe he could keep their attention in him rather than wherever Karen was in the building.

The lights flickered on and a man paced in front of Joe. One man? They had been thinking this was a larger operation. Had they miscalculated? His confusion must’ve shown on his face, as the man smirked.

“Expecting someone else?”

Joe didn’t answer.

“Come on. I picked you to play with because word on the street is you’re mouthy. C’mon. Humor me.”

“What do you want me to say?” Joe shrugged.

“Well don’t you have questions about my methods? Don’t you want me to monologue?”

“I figured I’d be getting a taste of your hospitality anyway, why ruin the surprise?”

The man blew air out his nose in a way that could be mistaken for a sneeze but was most certainly a scoffing sort of condescending laugh.

“Maybe if you’re so curious, I’ll give you a demonstration.”

Joe raised a brow, almost like a challenge. He figured if he was going to die, might as well go down himself, not a scared version of the boy he was.

The man patted Joe’s cheek patronisingly and left the room. It was quiet except for the sound of his cuffs against the chair. He looked around now that the light was on and he wasn’t distracted by his captor. They were in what looked like a butcher’s pantry. That did not bode well.

He saw a large walk-in meat freezer and put two and two together. The victims were locked in there to die. He didn’t like the idea of his little sister freezing to death any more than the idea of it happening to himself, but if he could manage to bargain with their captor when he came back, maybe he’d let her go. It was a vain hope, but a hope nonetheless. Usually, if their captors didn’t bother to hide their faces, they didn’t expect the kids to make it out alive.

They’d had tough scrapes before. They knew the risks. That didn’t stop it from being nerve wracking every time.

There was a loud scuffling and struggling as the man’s footsteps came back. Karen was writhing, trying to get free from the man’s iron grip on her upper arm. He brought her in and moved her over to the large sink, probably where the knives were cleaned, and turned on the water, sticking her head under the faucet. Joe could hear his sister blubber and cough, and his struggling efforts increased tenfold.

“Leave her alone! Let her go! Stop!”

The water was turned off and Karen was moved over towards the freezer. It was there she connected the dots rapidly, trying to shake herself free.

Again, her efforts were fruitless as the man opened the freezer and threw her inside with a loud crash as she hit the faux frost covered floor. The man pulled a hose from the wall, typically used for washing the animal’s blood off the floors and sprayed her thoroughly before turning the hose on Joe as he slammed the door to the freezer shut and locked it.

Joe turned his head away from the blast of water, but it did no good to keep the rest of his body away from the spray.

When he was so wet he dripped onto the floor, the man grinned at him.

“Now your sister, that’s the simple version. That’s for the boring ones, the ones with no fire. This?” He held up a towel and Joe’s heart started racing. “This is for the ones like you.”

He laid the towel over Joe’s face and turned the hose on him.

Joe coughed and sputtered, wishing he had thought to hold his breath. Seconds before he thought he’d black out, it was removed and he gasped for air.

“You think I’d let you go that easy?” The man chuckled.

He unlocked one side of Joe’s handcuffs and moved his hands so the boy’s wrists were cuffed to each other rather than the chair. He then got Joe standing and brought him over to the freezer, tossing him in with Karen.

“I give you an hour.” He said to the teenagers. “Let’s see if you get found in time.”

The meat freezer made their sopping limbs bitter from cold. The only warmth they had was each other.

“Does he expect us to go Donner party on each other or is it just empty in here so there’s no hope of any residual heat?” Karen muttered, looking around at the space, suspiciously empty of meat.

Joe only coughed in reply.

“Joe, stay with me here,” She kept snuggling closer, wishing she could give her equally waterlogged brother some of her nonexistent warmth. “We’re gonna be okay. Dad’s gonna find us, you know he always does.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Joe rasped.

“Then Frank will. Today’s not our day to die.”

At least, they hoped not.

After about ten minutes, they were numb. Fingers stinging from trying to warm them. Not even their breath was warm enough to help.

“Joe, what’s the danger zone for body temp?”

He thought back to when he’d memorised it for a paper on snowboarding safety. 

“Ninety eight degrees is normal, but the body starts shutting down when it hits ninety five. Eighty two is when you pass out, and anything below seventy is deadly.”

“What do you think we’re at?”

He was quiet for a moment.

“I don’t think we want to know.”

Time passed agonisingly slowly and with much silence between the siblings. Karen was the first to lose consciousness, maybe because she was smaller, maybe because she went in first, but Joe held onto her tightly. If she had to die, he was not going to let his little sister die alone. He stayed there, his sister pressed against his chest until everything became foggy, then dark, then… gone.

Everything after that was a haze, a fever dream, a vacant blur.

Sometimes he felt so close to waking- was he warm or was he beyond feeling? He couldn’t tell.

It wasn’t until he heard talking that he began to relax. They had to have been saved. If he’d have died, he would’ve woken faster. He hoped.

God knows how long it was before he fully woke up, eyes opening and then immediately wanting to shut again because of the bright fluorescent lights of the hospital.

“Joe?”

That was a voice he recognised. He cracked his eyes open a sliver.

“Hey Joey.” The face of his brother Frank smiled down at him.

“What took you so long?” He joked, trying to adjust to the light.

Frank’s face fell.

“No, no, I didn’t mean it, Frankie.” He backtracked. He hadn’t meant to upset his brother.

Frank tried to smile.

“It’s alright, Joey, you just… We honestly thought we were too late..”

“You weren’t, see I’m here.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know. And K’s fine too, she’ll be up soon, the doctor said.”

“Yeah? Did you get the guy?”

“One of them, yeah.” Frank nodded.

“There was just one.” Joe told him.

“But we thought it was an operation.” Frank countered.

“Well it wasn’t.” Joe shook his head, trying to sit up.

“Joe be careful-”

“I’m fine.”

Frank rolled his eyes, but the motion was such a comfort to Joe. It meant they were okay. Frank never reacted with sarcasm in danger like Joe did. He would never roll his eyes if there was something wrong. Sure, he’d just woken up and he should probably take it easy, but he was okay.

Okay for now. But something stuck with him.

Why had he been so ready to accept that they were going to die? 

Why hadn’t his sister?

Why, even when it seemed like she’d go first, did she stay resolute in her belief that their family would come for them?

Was it childhood innocence? Was it a hope?

Maybe it was time he started to believe in whatever Karen was holding onto.


End file.
